MacArthur School Nominated For National Blue Ribbon Award

Education Commissioner Dr. Diane DeBacker today announced that she will send five nominations to U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan for the 2011 National Blue Ribbon (NBR) Schools Award Program. These schools will be invited by Secretary Duncan to apply for this prestigious award. The final selection of the 2011 NBR schools will be made in September 2011.

The NBR program honors elementary and secondary schools that make significant progress in closing the achievement gap, recognizing those schools that have at least 40% of their students from disadvantaged backgrounds and have dramatically improved student performance to high levels in reading and mathematics. The program also recognizes schools in which students achieve in the top 15% in the state on reading and mathematics assessments regardless of demographics.

??It gives me great pleasure to nominate these five schools for this prestigious award, ? said Dr. DeBacker. ??These schools represent the progress being made in Kansas schools through a focused effort on ensuring all students achieve to high standards. They are to be commended for their commitment to student learning. ?

A committee consisting of school administrators, staff members from previously honored NBR schools, representatives from the Kansas National Education Association (KNEA), the Kansas Association of School Boards, and the Kansas Association of Secondary School Principals reviewed the data on schools deemed to be dramatically improved to high levels and those achieving at high levels regardless of demographics. The result of the process was the selection of five schools in two categories.

Group A ?? Schools identified as dramatically improved to high levels, serving at least 40% disadvantaged students.

MacArthur Elementary School – Liberal, KS

Oswego High School – Oswego, KS

Group B ?? Schools in the top 15 percent of the state on the reading and mathematics assessments, regardless of demographics.

Louisburg High School – Louisburg, KS

Sunflower Elementary School – Gardner, KS

Union Valley Elementary School – Hutchinson, KS